How to Make a Summer Learning & Fun Plan (Part Two)

This is part two of my summer learning plan posts.  If you haven't checked out part one, be sure you check it out!  It has five really great tips for setting up your very own summer learning adventure!
Now, my next 5 steps to make a great summer and learning plan!

6.  Make your summer bucket list, and set aside some time each day or so to cross items off.

Fill your bucket with awesome ideas.

Summer vacation is when all the kids look forward to having a blast, going on trips, and making memories!  At the beginning of summer, sit down with your kids and make a big list of all the things they would like to do, the places they would like to go, the people they want to see, the recipes and/or crafts they want to try...just anything and everything that they (and you!) can think of.  It doesn't have to be big activities, my children love using sidewalk chalk to make obstacle courses or towns for their hot wheels.  Blowing bubbles, choreographing a dance to the summer's biggest hit.  It can be anything!  Then set aside a little time each day (or every couple days) to do something off the list and make a mini production of crossing it off.  This way, when your children return to school next fall, your kids can say they did all kinds of stuff!

7. Try the 3 for 30 block for Reading, Writing, & Arithmetic

These are still important!

 In school, children as young as my 8 year old are subjected to huge forty minute chunks of time devoted to one subject.  This is good for school, as a former teacher I know how much academia has to be taught before testing time arrives.  For summer, however, there is no need to dedicate a huge amount of time to anything.  Summer learning should be a tad more free flowing, but that's not to say that the mainstays of education should be cut out completely!  That's why at my house we do the 3 for 30 block, where reading, writing, and arithmetic each get a 10 minute time period.  This way the skills are still worked on and developed, but not so overtly so that the children tire of them or find them boring. 

For my kids, I often start with math, just to get it over with.  Excepting my better half Studly, math isn't any of our favorite.  I try to get the kids to complete a worksheet or two on whatever skills their respective teachers suggested they work on, and if they don't seem to be catching on, I look up an idea for a quick game that helps teach the skills that I can play with them later in the day.  After math, we move on to writing.  At the beginning of the summer, I like to buy the kids a small composition book from the local dollar store that they can use as their summer journal.  Most days I'll suggest they write a few sentences in it (or for Princess, a paragraph) and then they can choose what else they will write, whether it be a letter, a book review, or a summary of an activity we recently finished.  Then they each grab a book and plop down somewhere to read until they are ready for something new.  

I don't keep the writing and reading blocks to a strict 10 minute schedule; they just have to do the whole 10 minutes.  If they wish to go longer with something, that is always acceptable! (See #3!)

8.  Include some whole family challenges.

This is when you pull everyone together to try something either as a competition or a group project!  Read one hundred books, visit and review every nearby park and playground, learn a new game, see who can catch the most fish (or bugs, or butterflies!) over the entire summer.  Children love when the whole family gets in on the action of working together to accomplish something, and how cool is it when a child beats their dad in a summer fishing competition??  Come up with a few challenges that the whole family could enjoy and make sure to keep some sort of record so that everybody can see how they are doing!

9.  Add in chores!

Because they will be making messes.

Yes, of course, they're no one's favorite way to spend the summer...but trust me, if you don't, you are probably going to feel pretty overwhelmed feeling that you have to keep the kids entertained and the house (tolerably) clean.  The kids are most certainly at home more contributing to the mess, so why not involve them in the clean up?  I like to set a little time right after brunch (we sleep late here) for morning chores and another little chunk of time before bed for clean up.  I also try to get a bit done during our 3 for 30 time.  Every little bit helps!

And last but not least...

10.  Keep it super cheap!! 

You don't need too many of these to be successful.

Summer learning at home shouldn't cost you an arm and a leg.  There are hundreds of resources out there that are full of ideas that won't cost you anything but a little time and maybe a quick trip to the local dollar store.  Most of the materials that my children and I will be using, we already have here at home.  Other than our mini vacays when we go camping or on a day trip, practically all our summer learning activities will cost us next to nothing.  So don't worry about spending a ton of cash on educational materials, just find a multitude of cheap & free ideas online and show your children that summer learning and fun doesn't have to cost a bundle.  If you want to check out some awesome ideas, check out my summer ideas Pinterest board here!